Sociology of Culture Commons^™

A Tri-Disciplinary Analysis Of Religion, Alicia Wallace

Social Sciences

This paper analyzes religion using a multi-disciplinary approach. Studying the Social Sciences exposes one to an opportunity not just to learn a single discipline, but three, and this unique learning experience can teach one to look at the world’s phenomena with a multi-perspective view. Using a tri-disciplinary approach when exploring topics can broaden ones outlook on how there are many ways to explore and investigate a topic in greater detail. By using Anthropological, Sociological and Geographical theoretical perspectives one can understand a topic more fully by using a multi-perspective approach when exploring this diverse world culturally, socially and physically.

Religion And The Politics Of Ethnic Identity In Bahia, Brazil (Book Review), Jan Hoffman French

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Stephen Selka investigates the role of religion in encouraging, or discouraging, the formation of black identity in Bahia, the Brazilian state that is regarded as the center of Afro-Brazilian culture, religion, and politics. As he strives to understand and theorize the crucial, but complex, relationship between religion and what he terms "Afro-Brazilian identity," Selka describes how adherents of the three primary religious trends in Bahia (Catholicism, Candomble, and evangelical Protestantism) view the effects of their religious institutions on the construction of that identity. This question is addressed through selected quotes from leaders and members of the respective religious groups (and …

Desecrating Scriptures, James W. Watts

Religion - All Scholarship

Desecrations of books of scripture appear regularly in media coverage of religious and political conflicts. Twenty-first century news media have reported scripture desecrations in various Western, Middle Eastern, African, and South Asian countries. Though political tensions also arise from the desecration of sacred sites, objects, and persons, books of scripture have emerged as particularly potent objects of contestation. That is because, as a (very) old form of media themselves, scriptures encapsulate the religious experiences of many people who are used to handling the physical book with veneration. News of such a book’s desecration thus inverts a common religious experience and …

Summary: Israeli- Palestinian Ethnic Conflict, Allen Gnanam

Allen Gnanam

The Israeli- Palestinian ethnic conflict will continue to escalate throughout both the short term and long term world future. The current and future animosity between both ethnic groups can be attributed to (a) history based accounts and religious tensions, (b) polarizing ideologies held by both sides, and (c) middle eastern resentment toward the Jewish state of Israel. History based accounts will refer to both biased historical accounts and factual historical events that have contributed to the Israeli- Palestinian ethnic conflict. Concepts such as ethnicity, nationalism, ideology, Palestinians, Israeli’s, Arabs, and religion will be conceptualized in the research paper.

Israeli- Palestinian Ethnic Conflict, Allen Gnanam

Allen Gnanam

This research paper discusses the historical, religious, and ideological factors linked to the Israeli- Palestinian ethnic conflict, and how these factors have contributed to middle eastern resentment toward the Jewish State of Israeli. The Modernist Theory, Perceptual Framework, and he Domestic Framework have been applied to the analysis of the Israeli- Palestinian ethnic conflict, in order to demonstrate the intensity of the above factors and their provocative role in the conflict. Other provocative issues that are discussed in this paper include territorial wars, ethnic nationalism, the competition for natural resources, the biased dissemination of historical text through educational institutions, and …

Behavioral Economic Issues In American & Islamic Marriage & Divorce Law, Ryan M. Riegg

Ryan M. Riegg

Sport As The “Opiate Of The Masses”: College Football In The American South, Eric Bain-Selbo

Philosophy & Religion Faculty Publications

Karl Marx famously describes religion as the “opiate of the masses.” Marx argues that religion is an ideological tool that legitimates and defends the interests of the dominant, wealthy classes in the population. It does so in part by placating the poor and exploited classes. Faced with an arduous and seemingly unjust life in this world, the poor and exploited at least can look forward to a more perfect existence in the afterlife. To reach that afterlife, however, one must peacefully and quietly persevere through life’s tribulation—respecting the life, liberty, and (especially) private property of others. In this way, religion …

Gandhi And His Legacies, Lester R. Kurtz

Lester R. Kurtz

No abstract provided.

Salt, 2006-2007, Salt Institute For Documentary Studies

Salt Magazine Archive

SALT telling Maine stories. Published by the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies. Number 63 / 64. 2006-2007.

Contents

• 6 Island Time a photo essay by Rebecca Stewart. On Eagle Island, the days pass essentially the same as they have for generations. Helen and Bob Quinn, and their grandson, Sam, spend their days cooking, lobstering, and exploring.
• 14 When Josh Got Sick a photo essay by Kim Alexander On June 17, 2004, Josh Howe collapsed in his living room. Later that day doctors removed a plum sized tumor from his brain that had been growing there since birth. Morgan, Josh’s little …

From Heresies To Holy Wars: Toward A Theory Of Religious Conflict, Lester R. Kurtz

Lester R. Kurtz

Explores the elements of a theory of religious conflict, starting with Simmel's understanding of conflict as a form of human sociation and religion as content of a conflict (religious rhetoric and framing are used to carry or explain the conflict) vs. the form of religious conflict, in which the conflict itself takes on a sacred nature. I also examine the ritualization of conflict and the nature of conflict symbols, that is highly-charged symbols that become lightning rods for conflict.

Karma As Social Theory, Lester R. Kurtz

Lester R. Kurtz

No abstract provided.

Solving The Qur’Anic Paradox, Lester R. Kurtz, Mariam Ramadhani Kurtz

Lester R. Kurtz

No abstract provided.

Images Of God: The Effect Of Personal Theologies On Moral Attitudes, Political Affiliation, And Religious Behavior, Christoper Bader, Paul Froese

Sociology Faculty Articles and Research

Social scientists often explain religious effects in terms of religious group affiliations. Typically, researchers identify religious groups by denomination or some broader popular categorization, such as “fundamentalist” or “evangelical.” To capture religious differences more effectively, Steensland et al. (2000) propose an intricate classification of American denominations that takes into account the theology and historical development of various American religious traditions to predict individual attitudes and behaviors. We believe that equal care and attention should be devoted to the development of key measures of belief that may cross denominational lines. In this article, we propose one such measure: personal conceptions or …

Local Gods And Universal Faiths, Lester R. Kurtz

Lester R. Kurtz

No abstract provided.